


Angels Like Mine

by InsominiacArrest



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Cryptids AU, F/F, Flying, Kissing, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 10:24:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9230753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsominiacArrest/pseuds/InsominiacArrest
Summary: Peridot is a helicopter pilot who escorts a group of cryptid hunters up a mountain to find an alleged winged-personCryptid AU





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had some requests to make this a longer fic, so I'm posting it

Peridot rose the helicopter just below the cloud cover, high enough that the ragged pine trees looked like clusters of green below them. She pushes forward into the highly wooded terrain of the mountains.

“How high?” She yells back at her passengers over the wind whipping around them.

“As far into the mountains as possible,” the woman with the very sharp nose and short ginger hair yelled back up to her.

Peridot nods and navigates them closer to the mountains.

“It will be as high as possible really,” the calm black woman contributed with a nod and the frantic young man with hair Peridot could only describe as ‘french fries’ starts yelling.

“They eat eagles this high up!” The young man yells and Peridot raises an eyebrow.

“Should I keep my eye out…?” She asks with a hint of sarcasm. This was not a regular batch of treasure hunters.

“Yes.” One of them says with a curt nod as Peridot glances behind her shoulder.

“It will have wings the color of the mooooon.”  
  
“Ronaldo.” The woman with blushing red hair warns.

“ _Pearl_.” Ronaldo says back, “It’s only fair more people know!” He huffs and Peridot lowers them closer to the mountain valley to be able to spot anything near the ground.

“Some sort of bird right?” Peridot says in a monotone as she leads them further up as the air gets markedly thinner.

“Dude,” Amethyst, her first contact, says with her palms up, “Told you it wasn’t a bird.”  
  
“A really big bird?” Peridot offers.  
  
“It’s not a roc!” Ronaldo yells again and Peridot frowns, and she thought she was loud. “It’s a beautiful, terrifying vision of a dream that will eat your heart from your chest!”  
  
Peridot bites her lip and tries to keep her eyes forward, “…Bigfoot?”

Peridot really wished she covered her ears at that point, Amethyst shook her head as Peridot glanced back and Ronaldo screamed.

“Garnet,” Pearl said with a frown as she tried to pat Ronaldo’s shoulder.

“Have you ever heard of a winged bipedal hominin?” Garnet, asks calmly.

Peridot raises an eyebrow, “Uh, like an angel?”  
  
“Yes, something like an angel.”  
  
Peridot tilts her head almost completely sideways. People were always looking for angels she supposed, she glances at their binoculars, but maybe not like this.

“But they’re real,” Amethyst says as she gnawed on her nails, “And she’s supposed to do some crazy stuff. But not be like, super-powered God juice holy spirit things.”  
  
“K,” Peridot says blankly as she realized she was with nutjobs- and Amethyst had seemed so cool before.

“They have been living solitary lives in the Colorado Rockies for decades,” Pearl says, “And are very territorial, but we think we can get a picture of one if we know where to look.”

“And ask it to come with us!” Amethyst says as she pumps her fist in the air.  
  
“Come with you?” Peridot’s mouth fell open. They were trying to ask a cryptic real nicely to capture itself.

Peridot had noted the dart gun and taser in their side belts, so maybe they weren’t asking too nicely. She hums and circles deeper into the reclusive mountains.

The low clouds crowd in and they ascend higher and higher until Peridot is unsure how far they are actually going to go.

Finally, when even Peridot’s fingers are shaking through her thick gloves, Garnet speaks.

“Here. Land in the dip there.” She points at a low valley in the sloping mountains. This what they paid her for.

With some fine maneuvering she lands them gently in a nice clear patch of level ground and exhales, “We’re lucky,” She says fondly, “There isn't usually a lot of landing ground this high up.”

Garnet nods and pushes her glasses up, “I know. I saw this.” She taps at one of her eyes and Peridot slumps over again. She wasn’t going to ask about that either.

She lets them out and they unsteadily wobble in place as she explains how to adjust to the altitude, “…Take deep breaths, drink more water than you can hold and be back in three hours. I will stay by the copter.” She finishes curtly and they nod.

Garnet puts a hand on her shoulder, “Tell us if you see anything. We have good reason to believe she’s around here.” Peridot tries not to visibly sigh.

Pearl nods, “We’re giving you a walkie-talkie…She’s very allusive but easy enough to spot.”

“And if you kiss her, she’ll grant you wish.” Amethyst finishes with a wink, Peridot can’t help rolling her eyes at that.

“Seriously?” She says under her breath as they adjust their gear.  
  
Ronaldo bounces up and down excitably, “Let’s go, let’s go.”  
  
“Thanks. Cryptid expert.” Amethyst says as she turns away and then waves, “Take care of yourself P.”  
  
“Yeah,” She sighs, “Find your icarus I guess.”  
  
Pearl pumps her hand in the air, “We will!”

They get their packs together with huge cameras and binoculars at the end of their necks, Peridot watches with a quiet hum as they gather themselves up.

She waves languidly as they say their final goodbyes and these ‘hunters’ go on their way and Peridot starts to pop her bubble gum to help with the pressure in her ears.

She reads a small book about caring for her squash, which had already died twice this year when her skin starts to crawl. There was something very still about the air, too quiet and she was very aware of the time.

“You have to plant in winter, decomposing leaves are best…” She leans on the nearby rock and tries to focus on her book.

An hour passes. Two hours. She’s playing a game of toss with herself when she decides to radio in with the rest of the group-  the three hours were almost up.

“Amethyst,” She turns on her walkie, “Amethyst, 'copter calling.” She says as she taps her foot on the soft soil.

A frantic buzz of static comes back to her, “bzzz, almost, bzzzzz, soon.”

Peridot groans, “How soon?”

“Bzzzzz, couple bzzz, hours?”  
  
Peridot raises an eyebrow and sighs, “I’m charging you double overtime.” She starts tossing stones again as the minutes trickle away like water dripping down a cave wall.

She’s completely ready to leave when her hairs stand on end, and not in a good way. In the way related to a high pitch screech that tears through the air like a jagged rock hitting metal.

“RRRrrrrccckkkk,” Peridot’s eyes go wide and she backs up closer to her helicopter. “Rrrrrcccckkk!”

It sounded somewhere between a seagull and a chainsaw, the noise echoes through the hills and Peridot glances around nervously.

“It’s just a hurt animal,” She says with a deep breath, “Just…hunters? Or something…Being eaten.” Peridot hops back up into her helicopter and closes the door.

She keeps pressing down on the walkie-talkie to tell them, but she didn’t want to drag this adventure on any longer than needed. Or show that she her voice might be shaking.

“Rrrrrrroccckkkk.” Peridot squeezes her eyes shut and takes a deep breath.

“It’s just a hurt bird.” She reaches for a thick army knife, “You can just…help it before the others come back and go on another three-hour trek towards whatever.”

She hops out of the transport on shaky legs and follows the sound, the screech higher and louder as she approaches.

“Hey!” She calls into the woods, “Is...anyone there?” She takes a deep breath when she hears no response, “Everything is fine…” That last part was mostly for her own sake.

The sound becomes surprisingly close as she reaches a wide cave mouth with some light peeking in further back. She wrinkles her nose, “Only idiots go into dark caves in the middle of the mountains…” She accesses mildly.

“Rrrrrrrrcckkkk!” The sound is as grating as a long needle against her spine.

Peridot sighs and decides she could do something foolish once or twice and follows the seagull noises into the ill-lit cavern.

The sound echoed over gray rock and Peridot follows the noise for several rooms, she reaches one with a high ceiling with a very large hole in it- like a sunroof.

She looks around curiously, the sound having died down for a few minutes.

“Hello?” She knew it was stupid but somehow felt like the way to approach the quiet light in the center of the room.

Something fumbles forward on its knees into the light and Peridot’s breath catches in her throat, it glances up at her.

She falls backward and screams. “Aaaaaaaah!” She pulls at her hair until a couple strands fall out.

It, the thing, appears to unhinge its jaw and let out a chilling screech again, Peridot shuffles backward towards the cave wall. It was not a bird.

It had wings twice the size of its entire body, as white as snow and tinged with blue at the ends. Most notably, the gigantic wings were tangled in what Peridot would place as telephone wire, wrapped back around her whole body and constricting her in a death grip.

The creature tears at its thick bounds, its hands pointed in sharp talons and delicate curved fingers ripping at the restraints, Peridot figures the wire was why she was screaming.

Her face was unearthly with feathers sprouting from her scalp like a halo of blue hair.

When it blinked, its eyes were almost all pupil, Peridot screams again at the sight. The creature gnashes her sharp teeth and shifts on the ground. The only thing bizarrely human about her was a white sundress in plain colors and tied with a sash in the middle.

Peridot tilts her head and has no idea what to make of it.

It opens its graceful jaw and lets out a terrifying roar as she struggles to free herself again. “ _Rrrrrccccck_ ,”

"This isn't..." She mutters. The creature sways in place as it struggles.

Peridot flinches and holds her knife tighter, she knows she should leave. She knows she should get the others and stop cowering in the corner.

“Okay,” She breaths, “Okay. You’ve either hit your head or there are some cryptids…That exist.” She gulps and loosens her collar of her thick vest.

The creature’s black eyes swivel to face Peridot and they spend a very long moment examining one another, Peridot with her heart in her throat and the winged-icarus very carefully blinking.

“This is all your fault.” She speaks. Peridot’s mouth hangs open in shock and the creature snarls in her direction and Peridot gathers herself closer to the wall. “If you humans didn’t build those electric death traps…If you left the skies alone!” She cried out and Peridot tenses.

“Are those….Those aren’t glued to your back are they?” Peridot finally asks with a second of creeping curiosity overcoming her.

The creatures wings twitch, flapping lowly in their constraints and Peridot audibly gasps. “You’re real!”

She rolls her eyes, “Lapis Lazuli. Nice to,” She wrinkled her nose, “Be in a dead end cave with you and your foul human scent.”

”Oh my God, you’re real, and trapped and oh my God.” Peridot could feel her own rapid breathing and hoped this thing didn’t smell fear. Or sweat.

It just blinked, “I’m real. You’re annoying, etcetera, etcetera.”  
  
Peridot puts her hands in the air and made a face, “Wow. Well then, I have a knife, but maybe I should just take it and leave.”  
  
“No!” The girl yells as her eyes land on Peridot’s knife, “I mean no. I’m sure…We could work something out.”  
  
Peridot stands up slowly and examines her in the light. “My name is Peridot…Peridot Arafat.” She says calmly as her mind tries to put this all together. “I’m, I’m- we were looking for you.”  
  
Lapis snorts, “I’m sure you are.”  
  
Peridot hums and takes a few steps forward, “I’m guessing you’re not an angel, are you?”  
  
Lapis shakes her and her sharp claws scratch uselessly at the wires, “I’m nothing like your false icons.”

Peridot nods ever so slightly and she steadily meets her unnerving gaze. “You flew into telephone wires.”  
  
Lapis groans and throws her head back, “Yes! Thanks to you, your kind."  
  
Peridot hums and turns away, “I should get my friends.”  
  
“Wait!” Lapis calls to her and she looks behind her to see Lapis struggling in place, “No! A deal, a deal. I can grant you something.”  
  
Peridot makes a face and put her hands on her hips, “I’m not stupid. You’re not magic- you’re just,” She looks her up and down, “Evolutions game.”  
  
“Game?” She says with a hint of offense in her voice.

“Sure, I suppose one hominin could learn to fly.”  
  
Lapis sighs and starts to wiggle over to her, “You don’t know what I am and you don’t know all the things I can do.” She tips her chin up, “Could do, and could do for _you._ ”  
  
Peridot raises an eyebrow, “I doubt there is much you could do for me.” Then again, she didn’t believe in flying people a handful of minutes ago, so maybe the world was full of wonders. “Though I suppose they did tell me if I kissed you, you’d grant me a wish.”  
  
Lapis furrows her brow, “A kiss?”  
  
Peridot shrugs, “I should go get my friends.”  
  
“No!” Lapis huffs breathlessly, “They can’t know, the world can’t know about me- it’s bad enough you do.”  
  
Peridot blinks and puts her hand on her chin, “There’s really no reason for me not to…It would only be a picture.”

“I’ll grant you a wish, I really will.” She says desperately, “You have to, I can’t be found.”  
  
Peridot hums and considers what the world might be like when they knew that the dreams of humans were real.

“You know, things like bigfoot don’t usually talk…”  
  
Lapis shakes her head, “How do you know that? He’s actually a friend of mine, quotes Shakespeare.”  
  
“Really?” Peridot takes a step forward.

Lapis laughs and looks down, “No.”  
  
Peridot hums and approaches very, very slowly, “I’m sure finding you would get me a lot of money, but,” She sighs, “I have a very good friend named Steven who might yell at me for it.” Peridot frowns and takes out her knife, “Don’t bite me when I do this.”  
  
Lapis nods and holds perfectly still, Peridot’s hand brushes against Lapis’s skin as she readies herself to cut the wire. The skin is soft like velvet and strange against her knuckles. She starts sawing steadily at it, taking her time as she cut through the many layers of metal- practically ruining her knife in the process.

“You are strangely…Beautiful you know.” She whispers as she takes a moment to run her fingers down Lapis’s short-feathered hair.

Lapis shakes her off and her eyes are very quiet as she looks at her, “Free me.”  
  
Peridot takes a final hacking motion and cuts through the restraints. Lapis immediately tears off the rest of them and her enormous white wings leap to their full width.

Peridot gasps in awe, they were larger than she could have imagined.

Before Peridot can wave goodbye or get a word in, an arm is wound around her waist and tugging her forward, something presses against her lips. She’s being kissed like a hungry animal before she knows what’s going on.

Lapis holds her in her arms, far too strong and hard, bruising her mouth as she harshly kisses her. Peridot feels herself tilt her head and let the creature in further, a tongue as strong and harsh as a cats and very long.

Peridot feels her body heat up and the kiss tastes sweet….far too sweet. Her eyes fly open with horror as she starts feeling a tingling in her nerves and something heavy drop throughout her body.

Lapis kisses her more deeply and her clawed hands grope at Peridot’s chest and body with the same enthusiasm, Peridot feels the sickeningly sweet taste go down her throat and the tingling spread across her entire body.

“What have you done?” Peridot pants as she manages to pull back.

Lapis laughs with a shrug, “You don’t really think I grant wishes do you?”  
  
Peridot frowns, Lapis abruptly drops her, and Peridot bounces before yelling at her, “Poison. You’re goddamn poison. Like…a snake!”

Lapis grins innocently, “More like a platypus really, but yes.” Peridot groans as she tries to pick her arms up and they uselessly swing by her sides.

“Cheap trick.” She growls.

“I couldn’t have you following me or anything.” Lapis replies absently.

Peridot huffs, “I wouldn’t have.”  
  
Lapis fluffs her hair, “I wouldn’t take that chance,” Lapis pauses and looks her up and down, “Anyway,” She hums as she reaches down, “I like your vest.”

"What?"

"It looks useful." She reaches down.

“Oh no.” Peridot’s eyes go wide.

“Oh yes.”  
  
Lapis’s long fingers take her zipper in hand and inch by inch pull the vest down. She unbuttons her pants next and slowly lifts the shirt off Peridot’s head, she shivers with a soft noise.

”Perve!” She whines and Lapis drags a nail down her waist.

“I like human clothes.” She shrugs and gestures to her own sun dress. “I can use them.”

Lapis strips her down to her underwear and looks over her appraisingly. In other circumstances Peridot might have felt very differently about this.

But it stood to say she was being mugged by a cryptid in a cave as she trailed her fingers up and down her body as she decided whether or not to take the rest.

Lapis lets her keep her underwear.

“Have a nice life stranger.” She puts Peridot’s pants in her arms.

Peridot lays uselessly on her side, “I hate you.”  
  
Lapis winks, “Thanks again.”  
  
She expands her considerable wingspan to fill almost the whole cavern.

She smiles sharply over her shoulder and starts flapping, Peridot can’t help but think of her own helicopter as the force of the wings push her hair back and fills the cave with a violent wind.

It was amazing, amazing in the way miracles and supernovas are. And, on the other hand, it was utterly humiliating. Peridot held her breath as the creature took off into the sky through the hole in the cave roof.

Her white wings shone in the weak light and disappear into the horizon like specks of dust.

She wonders if she’ll ever see her again.

***********

To say the least, being found hours later paralyzed, half-naked and in a random cave was not the highest point in Peridot’s life. In fact, it surpassed the moment she called her teacher mom in the 4th grade.

Peridot lay motionless, her skin tingling and hot as the poison coursed through her veins and the sickly sweet taste of Lapis’s mouth filled her senses.

Peridot groans as she lies on the cave floor, “That wasn’t hot.” She tells herself in the dark and waits for death.

Luckily for her, Garnet was an expert tracker and followed her footprints to the cave. They pick up her limp, lifeless body and carry her back to the helicopter, waiting for her to get the feeling back in her limbs so she could fly them home.

Amethyst teases her non-stop and Pearl narrows her eyes at her, Peridot doesn’t tell them about Lapis.

“I was mugged.” She said blankly and Pearl frowned.

“Up here?”  
  
“Mountain people. Blow darts, they mugged me.”  
  
“And took most your clothes!” Amethyst cackled and Peridot sighs.

She gathers them back into her helicopter and Peridot doesn’t meet their eyes.

She looks off into the distance and a trick of the light shows wings the size of people flapping through the air- she blinks the vision away.


End file.
